Devon Allen is fast.

Like, really fast. On Sunday, he recorded the third-fastest 110-meter hurdles time in history at the USATF NYC Grand Prix, winning the event with a time of 12.84 seconds. American Aries Merritt. who won gold in the 2012 London Olympics, holds the world record with a time of 12.80 seconds (Sept. 7, 2012).

The 27-year-old former Oregon Duck wideout signed with the Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent in April shortly after taking part in Oregon’s football Pro Day. He recorded a 4.35 40-yard dash time that day, catching headlines and telling reporters after the event that he was serious about a return to football.

Allen was a 4-star recruit coming out of high school. As a redshirt freshman in 2014, he had 41 catches for 684 yards and seven touchdowns, but a pair of knee injuries slowed his career.

On the track, he twice won the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships in the 110M hurdles. He won the 110M hurdles at the 2016 Olympic Trials and finished fifth in that year’s Olympic Games. He competed again at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, finishing four-tenths of a second off the bronze medal.

“When I had my last knee injury in the 2016-17 season, I decided I was going to focus on track through the next Olympics. Actually took a lot longer than I planned because of COVID, but now we’re here,” he said at Oregon’s Pro Day. “When I first started running routes 6-8 weeks ago, I was like, ‘Man, it doesn’t feel like I took any time off.’ Obviously, I need some work slowing down because I’ve been running full-speed the last five years, but other than that it’s been good.”

Allen expects to compete in the hurdles at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in June and then the World Athletics Championships in July.

“The goal is to get ready for Worlds, compete at Worlds, win, break the world record, do that whole thing, and then on July 18 when Worlds is done, go to camp the next week,” he said. “The end of July is when training camp starts and then all of August is preseason. That’s kind of the goal I envision to make it work and I feel like that is quite possible.”

He’ll certainly have plenty of support from Eugene.